Lamar Patterson

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ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club has signed guard/forward Lamar Patterson to a 10-day contract, it was announced today by President of Basketball Operations/Head Coach Mike Budenholzer.

Patterson was with the Sacramento Kings in training camp this season and most recently played in 28 games for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League, where he averaged 24.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals in 35.8 minutes. He ranked fourth in the D-League in scoring, 12th in assists and tied for 12th in steals.

Patterson was selected 48th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. After playing in Turkey (Tofas Bursa) in 2014-15, he played in 35 games for the Hawks last season. Patterson will wear uniform No. 13.

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Hawks Sign Lamar Patterson To 10-Day Contract

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club has requested waivers on Lamar Patterson, it was announced today by President of Basketball Operations/Head Coach Mike Budenholzer. 

Patterson, the 48th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, appeared in 35 games for the Hawks in 2015-16.

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Hawks Request Waivers On Lamar Patterson

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7 Takeaways From Hawks Summer League

The Atlanta Hawks fought valiantly in their fourth game in five nights but ultimately ran out of gas, falling 75-68 to the San Antonio Spurs in Las Vegas Sunday.

Atlanta used a strong defensive effort to build a 12-point halftime lead but got cold in the second half.  The Hawks were the only semifinalist that had to play Wednesday, and as Head Coach Kenny Atkinson said afterwards, the team simply ran out of gas late.  Jump shots came up short, and Atlanta turned it over 18 times in the game.

Lamar Patterson led all Hawks with 16 points.  Mike Muscala bounced back from a foul trouble-filled quarterfinal to record 13 points and 8 rebounds, and Glenn Robinson III added 10.

Edy Tavares scored 5 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and had 2 blocks in his return to the starting lineup after suffering a right index finger laceration in the quarterfinals Saturday.

Beyond just the statistics, the Hawks got a valuable look at two roster guys (Muscala and Tavares), as well as some options for training camp invites (Robinson, Patterson, Terran Petteway and Brandon Ashley) as they mull the idea of filling their final roster spot with an additional wing.  Muscala seemed to make good reads with the ball all week, particularly driving and dishing to weakside shooters.  Tavares took a big step defensively but still needs to work on rotating, as well as playing without fouling.

The Hawks finished the Las Vegas Summer League 4-3, having made it to the semifinals.  Training Camp begins Sept. 29, and it's possible a few invites will go to the guys who helped them get there.

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Hawks' Summer Run Ends In Final Four

The Atlanta Hawks came into Thursday's Sweet Sixteen Summer League showdown with the Denver Nuggets having made just 17 of their 72 three-point attempts in Las Vegas (23.6%).  Head Coach Kenny Atkinson said he was hopefully his team would start knocking down threes, and Thursday was the breakout game.

Atlanta hit 10 from behind the arc in what looked like shades of this past regular season en route to an 82-73 win, their second in two days in tournament play.

Brandon Ashley got the last-minute start in place of the injured Edy Tavares (mild oblique strain) and scored a team-high 18 points on 7-13 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds.  Starting guards Stephen Holt and Lamar Patterson scored 17 apiece.

Ashley, Holt and Patterson continue to be among the undrafted free agents who are impressing the most on the roster.  Terran Petteway, who has struggled with his shot all week, finally got some threes to fall and finished with 14 points, while Mike Muscala added 10 despite battling foul trouble all game.

Atlanta got a measure of revenge against Denver, which beat the Hawks in the opening game of pool play on Friday.

Tavares is considered day-to-day, and the injury appears to be nothing serious.  The Hawks have a well-deserved off day Friday before facing the Dallas Mavericks in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 6 p.m. on NBA TV.

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Hawks Ride Three Ball To Vegas Quarterfinals

The Atlanta Hawks didn't win their Summer League game on Monday against the D-League Select team, but they did earn some "oooohs" and "ahhhhs" from the Cox Pavilion crowd in Las Vegas.

The team completed several highlight plays that left the fans dazzled.  Take a look:

The first was a Glenn Robinson III dunk in which he rebounded his own miss:

Robinson struck again in the third quarter with a steal and 360 flush:

For the second time this week, we saw a Lamar Patterson-to-Edy Tavares alley-oop:

And check out this slick drive and dish by Terran Petteway:

You can watch all four highlights together with extended brioadcast calls here:

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Hawks Fill Up Highlight Reel In Summer League Game

Atlanta Hawks 2014 second round draft acquisition Lamar Patterson is with the team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas for the second consecutive year.

Last summer Patterson revealed that he has a pet alligator and that he would like it to "sit on the bench with us."

This season, he gave us an update on the pet, saying "that's my lil' homie right there."

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Lamar Patterson Gives An Update On His Pet Alligator

If there’s one thing that stands out about the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks, it’s that no one stands out.

One might say that they don’t have a star, unless of course one says that they have four or five of them.  What stands out is that they are all good teammates, unselfish and always prepared. They follow the coach's scheme and pay attention to the details. It’s hard to argue with winning 29 out of 31 games.

The Hawks have been savvy about getting those types of studious players in the past two years. When they traded away their 2015 second-round pick to Milwaukee to pluck Lamar Patterson from the second round of the 2014 draft, Atlanta was surely thinking along those lines. 

Even though his play in the Las Vegas Summer League didn’t result in a spot on the Hawks' roster, there were highlights. One was when he averaged 10.5 points in his first two games. Another happened when he talked about the possibility of bringing his pet alligator to Atlanta.

The 6’5” guard certainly fits the profile of the typical Hawk wing. First and foremost, if there’s a good pass to be made, Patterson will make it. As a fifth-year senior at Pittsburgh, he averaged 4.3 assists per game as a shooting guard.  He can shoot too, hitting 39% of his threes in both his final season at Pitt and this season in the Turkish Basketball League. Combine that with a 6’11” wingspan, and the 23-year-old makes for an intriguing prospect.

Patterson and the Hawks are still showing up strongly on each other’s radar. He keeps up with his former Vegas teammates.

“Me and Dennis talk all the time. Adriean and I, we talk." 

“Every morning when I get up, I check ESPN, and I see that they’re winning.” Patterson said via a phone interview. “Every morning I look to see: ‘They got another win, they got another win’.  It’s great to see that, you know? I definitely keep up with them.”

He wishes he could see more games live, but the local 4 a.m. tip times make watching games difficult.

The Hawks are keeping an eye out too. The team sent personnel to Turkey to watch Patterson play for Tofas Bursa a couple of months ago, and Patterson says that they may come again soon. The Hawks don’t have him under contract on their 15-man roster, but they do still hold his future NBA draft rights.

As far as positions go, Patterson notes, “I’ve been playing the 2 and 3 most times. But there have been games where I’ve played the point guard and power forward too, so I have to know all the plays from every position. It’s just something I’ve been doing my whole life.”

Playing for Bursa isn’t like playing the NBA, or even the Summer League for that matter.  Until he could learn some basic Turkish and tune his ear to the local cadence of English in Bursa, communication was a concern. Unruly fans have occasionally made for a different experience too.

“We were playing Galatasaray in Istanbul, we’re winning and they just get rowdy. They start throwing coins and lighters and water bottles on the court. You don’t see that in America. Next thing you know, my point guard got hit directly in between the eyes on the bridge of his nose by a coin, and I was like, ‘Whoever threw that should be a quarterback in the NFL. That was a perfect throw.’ I’m glad he survived through that one.”

It seems likely that Patterson will play for the Summer League version of the Hawks again this year. Until then, he vows to continue to improve.

“I’m over here working, just trying to become the best player I possibly can. Hopefully I can suit up in a Hawks uniform next season.”

And about that alligator? Patterson must have learned about unselfishness from his mother.  Mom knows how to take one for the team. While Patterson works on his basketball skills thousands of miles from home, she is back in the U.S. hesitantly taking care of Lamar’s pet.